However, Mzansi has proven its people are up for the challenge, vacation or not. According to a recent study four out of five South Africans choose to exercise on holiday, even though 32% don’t normally work out at home, showing greater interest in fitness while on vacation.
Time away from the norm can have a great impact on your mental health, and so does working out on holiday, infact 54% of South Africans exercise on holiday do so to look after their mental health, whereas 41% choose to exercise because they feel unfit if they don’t exercise; while 28% feel guilty.
In addition more than a third, 36%, feel overweight when they return home if they don’t exercise while away.
Neal Jones, chief sales and marketing officer, Marriott International - Europe, Middle East and Africa said: “The link between exercise and mental wellbeing is well established. So it’s great to see that South Africans aren’t letting this drop when they go on holiday.”
In fact, more people are taking up exercise on their holidays. That’s why we’re delighted to offer our members free access to FitnessOnDemand™, so that they can work out from the comfort of their hotel room, whenever it suits them,” he adds.
Top exercises South Africans like to do on holiday:
1. Going for a run in the local area around the town (44%).
2. Going for a run on the beach (43%)
3. Swimming (36%)
4. Working out in the hotel gym (34%)
5. Doing non-equipment-based exercises in the room e.g. sit-ups, squats, press-ups (31%)
6. Meditation (28%)
7. Working out in the hotel room (26%)
8. Yoga (23%)
9. Working out in an external gym in the local area (22%)
10. Sports, such as tennis, badminton, squash etc (18%)
Top exercises South Africans would like to do on holiday but feel they can’t:
1. Going to the gym (31%)
2. Yoga (28%)
3. Meditation (27%)
4. Sports (25%)
5. Cardio workouts (24%)
6. Aerobics (18%)
7. Zumba (16%)
8. Pilates (12%)
9. Wider fitness classes (12%)
10. Spin classes (11%)